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Friday, 30 January 2015

I was determined to have the 'Lotus Blossom' set, currently on offer as a 'freebie' in SU's 'Sale-a-bration' event. Was almost thwarted by Royal Mail but Vicky sorted things out for me - and the other day I had such fun playing with the set for the first time:

I used:- A6 white card blank, tent style- a slightly smaller layer of white card with the bottom edge punched using Martha Stewart's 'Lattice Edge' punch, popped onto the card using thin sticky pads- SU's 'Lotus Blossom' stamp set which I used as I'd read elsewhere - the clear polymer stamps come numbered 1,2, and 3. I reversed the order and stamped using them in the order of 3,2 and 1 - with just one ink pad - SU's 'Pretty In Pink' - thereby building the colour up with each additional stamping. The stem was stamped using SU's 'Certainly Celery' and the sentiment (one of two included in the set) was stamped using Memento 'Gray Flannel' ink- then I die cut the image using a Lil' Inkers 'Stitched Rectangle' die then glued it onto a backing of SU's 'Pink Pirouette' card stock, before adding that double layer onto the card using thin sticky pads

Remember, the Playground is open for an extra day this week, so the gates are open until 11am on Sunday morning. They will then re-open at midnight.

AND, if you love the look of this stamp set - Eve, one of our regular snippets playground playmates, has a draw for one over on her blog HERE. I truly recommend that you go and try to win this stamp set - all you have to do is be a follower, leave a comment and of course link in your own blog to spread the word. Sorry but it's UK only!

Thursday, 29 January 2015

There I was, 'sat sitting here' planning a visit to the carpet shop we always use, although it's been a while since I was last there. I found the little industrial estate where I thought they were located on Street View but the shop name was different and in fact it looked nothing like I remembered.

So, having found some previous paperwork I gave them a ring:

Me: Hi there, is that XXXXX Carpets?

Salesman: Indeed it is Madam, how can I help?

Me: It's been a while since I was last in your shop but I plan to drive over to discuss a carpet refit. The thing is, I can't pinpoint you so can you please tell me exactly where you are?

Salesman - without missing a beat: Of course Madam, right now I'm out the back of the shop, to the left hand side, standing by the kettle.

Me: Bwahahahaha, snort, snuffle, sob, squeak.

Picked self up off the floor and then had a sensible conversation (during which it transpired that they're just a bit further on than I was looking) - but it did make my afternoon :)

Wednesday, 28 January 2015

I did have fun making my card, even though the first attempt using a large flower from the SU 'Secret Garden' stamps and dies set just wasn't gonna work. So I rummaged round in the big box of fabric flowers instead - and to think I was seriously thinking about ditching them as they so rarely get used! This is what I came up with:

I used:--

- 7" x 5" white card blank, tent style- a banner of 'rainbow' card, cut to size with the bottom end punched using a Martha Stewart 'Cherish' punch - a huge blue fabric flower (probably Prima), topped with a pale green button with matching embroidery thread tied through the holes and the knot left at the back - all stuck on using the glue gun- the sentiment is from a Stampendous set called 'Happy Messages', stamped using Memento 'Danube Blue' ink pad. I like how the letter f in 'friend' has the little dots down one side, sort of picking up on the little holes left by the Cherish punch on the banner - little things please little minds :)

Sometimes I don't know what I've got here - having used up a last snippet of 'rainbow' card on Sunday - I found a brand new pack of the stuff hidden away!

Tuesday, 27 January 2015

It's Scrappy Mo's first time at hosting the Rudolph Day Challenge, since taking over from Sarn. Already folk are buzzing in and out linking up to Mo's blog HERE, so of course I had to join in the fun:

I used:- 6" x 6" square white card blanks (I made three cards all exactly the same!)- the image is a pre-coloured LOTV one from their 'Christmas Angels' Art Pad, die cut using a Lil' Inkers 'Stitched Rectangles' die - and I also added a little tickle of Clear Wink of Stella to the wings and also the little starry halos :)- the plain backing card is SU's 'Wisteria Wonder, topped with patterned paper from LOTV's 'Frosty Christmas' paper pad- in one corner I added a 'Snowflake Corner', Memory Box die cut from white card- the sentiment banner was stamped using Memento 'Gray Flannel' ink and a stamp from the Creative Expressions sentiments set called 'Joy to the World'. I've said before, this set comes with loads of lovely sentiments- then I just trimmed the banner to size and punched the fishtail using SU's 1" square punch- final touch, Josy Rose matt silver nail heads at one end of the banner

Sunday, 25 January 2015

Oooer, with other things going on here I worried whether I'd manage to make a snippets card - but of course 'there's no show without Punch' and this is my offering:

I used:- A6 white card blank- a snippet of white card, die cut across almost the centre using the Memory Box 'Piestra Tile' die- the die cut panel was then popped onto a panel of 'rainbow card' - found in the snippets folder- sentiment is by Hero Arts, from their 'Truly Appreciated' set - stamped using Memento 'Tuxedo Black' ink pad - then the assembled panel was trimmed down and popped onto the card front using very thin sticky pads- final touch, a butterfly die cut from the last of the rainbow card snippet plus some white - using Memory Box 'Vivienne' and 'Darla' dies

There are a lot of fairly similar cards out there, on Pinterest and such, using the Piestra die along with a butterfly. Bit of a match made in heaven!

I love this card, made by Lynn - and such a clever way to use up little white snippets too. A flower shaped punch and snippets of different coloured card stock would also give a similar effect :)

I'm always blown away by white on white cards, and this fabulous Wedding card - made by Shaz - really ticked all the boxes!

LOVE this card, made by Viv. Every element is absolutely right for the subject of the card, and the red and parchment colours go together beautifully - a nice change from blues.

I wish I could just keep adding to the picks, there were so many brilliant entries to choose from!

And we had no new playmates this past week - although there was a really serious risk of a horse joining us! What next?!?! A little group of 'rebels' decided it would be fun to accommodate said horse in the bike sheds - until I sent Parsnip out on guard duty right though the freezing nights we've been having - shame on you girls!

Well done Sally, first time you've won I think? Can you please drop me an email with your address and I'll post your prize off ASAP (di_wray@hotmail.com).

This coming week's prize is a Memory Box die just like one I used on my snippets card today:

Yup, it's the lovely 'Piestra Tile' die. I absolutely love it and am sure most of you would too. The great thing I found is that it cuts without any 'buckling' of the card - I do have a couple of other MB dies with repetitive patterns which aren't as good as this one for maintaining perfectly flat card.

SLIGHT CHANGE OF SCHEDULE. The Snippets Challenge will run for eight days as I'm out playing all day on Saturday 31st January- so the Playground gates will close at 11am UK time on Sunday 1st February. The gates will open again at
midnight UK time on the same day.

Maximum of three entries and please say 'Yes please' (or similar) in a comment if you wish to play and be a possible winner of the prize.

Mr Linky is below - do please
let me know if you have any problems linking, it's easy for me to sort out so don't struggle on alone :)

Remember girls, it's Rudolph Day today over at Mo's!! I'll be joining in and hope you came along to give Mo every encouragement on her first running of the Challenge since she took it over from Sarn, and you have until the end of January to join in. Mind you, Sarn was one of the protagonists wanting a horse in the Playground so I'm wondering if she actually now has too much time on her hands?!

Di and of course, Parsnip!

That little chap has been stomping round in his wellies in a very grumpy frame of mind - sure I heard him muttering something about 'horses, not while I'm around'!x

Wednesday, 21 January 2015

Having moaned that not many of this last Christmas's cards really lending themselves to up cycling - what does Hazel do over at Crafty Hazelnut's Christmas Challenge ask us to do? Up cycle, recycle, re purpose or use something free! So I scrabbled round in the box of saved cards and came up with this:

I used:- 6" x 6" square white card blank- backing paper from the My Mind's Eye 'All Is Bright' paper pad - chosen as it went well with the colour of the church in the image that I wanted to use. Plus I worked it so that the word 'Christmas' in the design shows and means no need for a sentiment as the card is probably busy enough - the image came from a shop bought Christmas card, die cut using a Spellbinders 'Labels One' die -it's a lovely sparkly image ( on the snow especially) which doesn't show up sadly in the piccy :(- then I die cut a frame using a Spellbinders 'Luscious Labels One' die, glued behind the image and then glued the whole topper onto the card - using Collall glue - still in love with the little bit of maneuverability of course

- the baby blue pure silk ribbon (sigh, this makes such gorgeous bows) is from The Ribbon Girl, tied in a bow and adhered to the card using the glue gun- finishing touch, an already glittered snowflake shaped button (from Hobbycraft, bought eons ago), just with a bit of iridescent cord tied in a bow and then glued onto the blue bow using the glue gun. Thereby making this a card which will not go through the normal sized letter slot - but hey-ho, sometimes it's worth it :)

This should have been a quick card to make, but I hit a huge pot hole in the road snag that's probably worth sharing.

I'm not sure how many of you may have seen (on blogs and YouTube) tutorials about the reasonably new idea of using tumble dryer sheets to remove all the fiddly bits from dies?

I spotted that Enfys of 'Going Buggy' had done a tutorial HERE and it looked a really great idea just to run your newly die cut piece of card, still in the die, through your cutting machine with the die face down onto folded tumbler dryer sheets. Quite magically the 'dross' from the die cutting should stick to the dryer sheets leaving you with a clean die plus your cut shape all neatly minus any little clinging pieces.

I'm a big fan of Enfys and she made it look so easy, so whilst doing the Sainsbury's run at the weekend I picked up a box of their 'own brand' tumble dryer sheets and tried out this new 'wonder technique'.

Now, it could be that Sainsburys dryer sheets are much moister than others. Folk do recommend you buy the cheapest from places such as Poundland or a Dollar Store, and also that you experiment a bit as perhaps you need only three folded sheets instead of four. But, I was horribly disappointed for the following reasons - the card shape didn't release from the die at all and I ended up poking bits out of the metal die once I'd managed to remove the shape, the shape itself seemed to be damp but I soon realised it was almost oily and also looked greasy and a bit discoloured - and to add insult to injury the cutting plates were left icky and needed a good wash.

So for me, right now, it's a thumbs down :( As I've said, perhaps less moist/oily sheets would be a vast improvement but needless to say I threw the test die cut out and reverted to good old waxed paper, which always works a treat.

I'd love to hear if any of you have had real success trying this out - especially as it looks such a great idea. And if you did have success, where (in the UK) did you buy your dryer sheets?

Tuesday, 20 January 2015

The current theme over at Less Is More is 'Friends'. Loads of options there and such fun thinking what to make/use. Shame on me, I eventually found a LOTV stamp set languishing in a folder - having never been used, despite me having it for absolutely ages:

I used:- 5" x 5" square white card blank- image and sentiment are from the LOTV 'Watering Can' set, stamped in Memento 'Tuxedo Black ink and coloured with Pro Markers (ages since I played with these) - the image was then die cut using a Spellbinders Labels One die, which I then ran an embossing tool round rather than dig out the embossing mat- then drew round the same die onto SU 'Smoky Slate' card stock and trimmed it to make a mat to fit behind the image- used Collall All Purpose Glue for the layering and to glue the assembled topper to the card - it's just got that edge for a bit of manoeuvrability :)

As it's the first time I used the stamp set, this card is also a third entry into Darnell's NBUS #3 (Never Been Used Schtuff) challenge - it's been very busy over there and you have a little bit of time still to play. The challenge closes at noon Pacific Time on Thursday 22nd January - plus there are $25 gift cards to be won from the ever-generous Darnell.

I used:- 5" x 5" square white card blank- snippets of plain SU 'Melon Mambo' and 'Pistachio Pudding' card stock- patterned paper from the Wild Rose Studio 'Butterfly Garden' paper pack - stamped roses were done using a snippet of white card, SU's 'Melon Mambo' ink pad and a stamp from the Personal Impressions Lindsay Mason 'Rose Galore' stamp set. I love this particular stamp as it looks so three-dimensional and have seen cards where it's been used to stamp all over a background and then just had a sentiment popped on top - very pretty effect- the butterfly brad came with my craft carousel - each drawer had a little packet of embellishments in and they've been sitting in a little box on my desk whilst I decided whether to keep them or not :)- sentiment is a Craftwork Cards one with bright pink foiling

Lots of pink on this card needless to say, and the pinks are a perfect match in real life too :)

Right, this week's picks are as always so hard to choose. A few of you had been playing with Brushos this week, each card was fabulous and so I don't favour any particular one all I can suggest is that you girls hop over to see them for yourselves.

Anyhow, these are my other picks for this week:

Feathers are really popular just now, stamped and/or die cut - but I'd never seen a feather stamp used to create an almost fern-like background as Val did here. Brilliant idea!

Laura brought this fabulous layout to share. I just love how all the greys work so well together and it's such a super use of lots of snippets of course :)

Cornelia came to play, bringing this fabulous card with a bokeh background - something I've not tried yet. And just look at all the heart confetti falling down the card - love it!

Still with hearts, I picked this card made by Pat. I love the hearts die cut partly off the page and the apertures backed with patterned paper. And just look at the perfection of Pat's hand drawn faux stitching around each heart- brilliant isn't it?

No apologies, here's yet another heart themed card - made by Brenda L. It's absolutely fabulous, called a triple swing card I think. There are other views over at Brenda's blog that are well worth looking at - absolutely loads of work must have gone into this beauty!

There's been a 'layered embossing' challenge going on this week and I know that others brought some really lovely cards using the technique but felt that this card, made by Janis, ought to be a pick. It's absolutely gorgeous, hope you agree.

And now for something different, which I think we could do with in the tree house right now:

Kate made a fabulous blanket, using snippets of wool. Each square seems to be knitted using a different pattern and the effect is just fabulous. I picked this close up photo so you could see just how textured it is.

And we have four new playmates this week:

Hands up everyone who remembers Spirograph? That's what Bobbi used for this beautifully vibrant card.

And we had another trip down Memory Lane when Tracey brought this great retro style card, featuring a juke box :)

Darlene brought this totally stunning card to show - chivvied guided here by Mrs A :)

And finally Dawn Louise skipped in with this terrific owl tag - love all the bright colours!

Thank you for coming to play with us - hope to see you again soon!

Now the draw for the Spellbinders A2 Distressed Edge dies - chosen by the random number generator:

Wahoo, well done Cathy. Sometimes I have to run the draw more than once to find someone who said they wanted the prize - your name popped straight out on the first run! I have your address and in fact nipped into my local Post Office and posted your die set off to you yesterday.

And I also got Viv's paper pad and pokey tool posted at the same time :)

The prize this coming week is probably a smaller one than usual. Partly as I felt we needed a change from dies (although I have quite a few waiting in the toy box and secondly, I bought the stamp set ages ago and it's been pleading with me to be offered as a prize every time I peek into the toy box:

Yup, it's the 'Rose Galore' stamp set, same as the one I used today. I did originally buy the set for the stamp I used today but do love the row of tall stem roses as well as the single rose as well.

The Snippets Challenge will run for one week and the Playground gates will close at 11am UK time on Saturday 24th January. The gates will open again at
midnight UK time on the same day.

Maximum of three entries and please say 'Yes please' (or similar) in a comment if you wish to play and be a possible winner of the prize. I know it might not be to everyone's taste but I do hope you'll still come and play!

Mr Linky is below - do please
let me know if you have any problems linking, it's easy for me to sort out so don't struggle on alone :)

On the Playground news front - some of you will know that Elizabeth has been in hospital with pneumonia, she's back home now and has to rest for a few weeks, big hugs from all of us! Also, our absentee Princess Judy skipped in on Friday to play (at number 72) - yay! And, Gillian who used to play here but has moved onto a few DTs is gonna be a Mummy! Wahoo - congratulations.

Friday, 16 January 2015

To be honest, I didn't find that 2014's shop bought Christmas cards which were sent to us were as good a prospect for upcycling as in previous years - purely in terms of upcycling potential I hasten to add! Which means I'll have to just work harder on making Christmas cards from scratch this year :)

- a piece of gold mirri card, topped with a piece of holly patterned card (no name but it's very much like KanBan)

- the front of a Marks and Spencer card, sent by a friend, die cut using a die from the Spellbinders 'A2 Distressed Edges' set and then mounted onto a backing of straight cut deep red satin mirri card

And that was it! The in-house critic said to resist adding anything else.

This card does show how great the Spellbinders 'A2 Distressed edges' dies work with more traditional images. Remember, there's a set of these as this week's prize in the Snippets Playground over here! But you only have until 11am UK time on Saturday.

I used:- 6" x 6" square card blank - to begin with anyhow!- then I embossed the front of the card using Crafts-Too's 'Scrollwork Frame' embossing folder - making sure that the edge of the frame was butted right up against the opened out card spine. It worked a treat so then all I had to do was to trim the whole folded card down to the outer edge of the scrollwork frame - making it practically an A6 sized card- the image was stamped using Memento 'Gray Flannel' ink and a Stampendous stamp from their 'Calendar Chicks' range, called 'Mr. and Mrs. Chick'. Coloured the little cuties using Faber Castell Polychromos pencils and Sansodor blending solution - with just a tickle of clear Wink of Stella on the veil. AND, I remembered to 'ground' the happy couple with a little line of gray pencil- the sentiment was stamped in Memento 'Gray Flannel' using a couple of stamps from SU's 'Petite Pairs' sentiments set

Tuesday, 13 January 2015

Len's niece has a son who we love dearly, called Edward. Making cards for him always taxes me as he has problems which mean it's a fine balance between making a card that's too adult for him yet making sure it isn't too childish either. Whilst all the goodies were still out for the SU 'Wading birds/sunset' card I showed last week - it seemed wise to press on and make Edward's card ready for his Birthday tomorrow.

I hopped over to Pinterest for ideas and found loads of different ways to make balloons as toppers for cards. Not having a balloon shaped die, I sort of cobbled together a combination of ideas and came up with this:

I used:- 6" x 6" square white card blank- the orange backing card is SU's 'Tangelo Twist', topped with a piece of cloud paper from a free paper pack which came with Quick Cards Made Easy magazine, way back in 2012- the balloons were good fun to make. My oval punches didn't look right so I opted to use SU's 1.3/8th circle punch and three different snippets of card stock. To make the bit at the bottom of the balloon is so easy if you have the SU 'Owl Builder' punch - it's just one of the owl's feet with a bit of body above so you can adhere it behind the circle - but, you could always cut them just freehand of course. Then I inked round the edges of the balloons with slightly darker ink for dimension before adding the white lines using a white Signo pen to make the balloons look more realistic- matching bakers twine was just tied gently round each balloon before they were added to the card using sticky pads- I then laid the long ends of the twine over some double sided tape before adding the sentiment on top and then trimming the bottom ends- the sentiment was stamped using 'Tangelo Twist' and Inca Stamp's 'Dot Birthday' before being die cut using a Lil'Inkers 'Stitched rectangle die and then popped onto a slightly larger rectangle of 'Tangelo Twist' card before being adhered to the card with sticky pads

Let's just hope I remembered to post the card - if not, there's gonna be a little scurry here :)

PS - I checked and I did post it last week - yay for staggering to the Post Office (complete with sick bag - thank you nasty virus!) and making sure his card was amongst the post!

- the pre-coloured image came from LOTV's 'Wild Flowers' Art Pad, die cut using a die from the Spellbinders 'A2 Distressed Edges' set

- yay, and a snippet of yellow card from the snippets folder, die cut using the next size up in the die set (which is the largest one at A2)

That was it - told you it was a fast one. I first spotted this die set on one of the blogs I follow and I'm almost sure it had been used to die cut round one of those large vintage Christmas postcard stamped images - it looked fabulous! So, with more time to spare, these dies really can be used in loads of clever ways rather than my easy peasy card.

Onto this week's picks:

I know, Darnell's fabulous cards often feature here - and this is just such great use of little snippets of paper/card it would have been wrong not to include it.

Plus, it reminded me about a little trick I read on one of your blogs this week (wish I'd written down just where!) - if you (say) only have little birds facing the same way in a die set - remember you can die cut them and flip them over and then gently rub them with a largish ball ended rounder on the front to make the reverse look as if they were cut that way in the first place. Did I lose you there?

I've chosen this card, made by Anne F, because I love all the work that went into making it - right down the paper piecing of those adorable flowers.

This card is Vinita's very first venture into making a vintage style card - and I bet you'll agree that she really has cracked it! There are loads of lovely pictures with more detail over on Vinita's blog - why not go and check it out?

Alison C used a snippet of parchment here, which is such a lovely touch. I've also included this card because the stamp set that Alison used is absolutely beautiful and it's very plain to me just how much time went into building the background up using a few different stamps - and with such perfect placement too. I confess that I did go and peek to see what the stamp set consists of and then ran away in horror! Amazingly painstaking work indeed.

I really dithered over this card as I also picked out Lucy's Mother's Day card which you can see over here. But, in the end Lucy's happy little Mr Gnome won the day - so clever to make the frame using lolly sticks too :)

As I always say, there are tons of inspiring ideas in every single entry this week - so why not just browse last week's thumbnails when you have a time?

And, we have two new playmates this week:

Cindy brought a host of beautiful cards to show, all featuring pennants. They're all really lovely and I was amazed at the variety too.

And Carole D skipped in for the first time, bringing this great card to show. Carole also does some amazing cake decorating - as well as card making of course!

Now for the winner of the Prima Paper pad and the Tim Holtz retractable craft pick:

Well done Viv! It really tickled me when I double checked back after your number was drawn and found that you'd commented that you hadn't bought any papers for almost a year and now wanted some :) I have your address and the package is already parcelled up to post, just as soon as I get to the Post Office.

And, all four packages from last week's bumper draw were posted off to the winners at the latter end of this last week.

Next, if you haven't already guessed, this coming week's prize is:

Your very own set of Spellbinders 'A2 Distressed Edges' dies of course :) I do love that they've included two narrow and quite long dies, perfect for sentiments! I want to find time to sit and have a serious play with my own set.

The Snippets Challenge will run for one week and the Playground gates will close at 11am UK time on Saturday 17th January. The gates will open again at
midnight UK time on the same day.

Maximum of three entries and please say 'Yes please' (or similar) in a comment if you wish to play and be a possible winner of the prize.

Mr Linky is below - do please
let me know if you have any problems linking, it's easy for me to sort out so don't struggle on alone :)

I don't normally wear a flower in my hair ...

..........just when I find one decorating a cocktail!

Welcome to my little workshop

I'm Diane (Di to most people), retired and I live in Hampshire, UK. The name Pixie's Crafty Workshop came about because my 'in-house critic' refers to 'The pixie being hard at work' whenever I'm playing with paper or other crafty stuff. And he's right, it's mostly when I should be doing other things :) I've always loved paper crafting - especially using scissors. Aged five and laid up with measles, in a fit of boredom I chopped my fringe right off! If it can be trimmed, then I'll trim it!

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I hope you like what you see here, and I would be delighted to see you picking up some ideas. However, please don't directly copy my designs for publication or contest submission.Thanks!